After watching a recent episode of MythBusters, I am inspired to make my own butter! Yes, Google is my friend and I will ask his opinion later but I’d like to ask my real, flesh and blood friends for their input and experience.

Thanks to Nourishing Traditions, we eat a little bit of butter. Okay, we probably eat a little too much of it but it’s better than margarine so it’s not all bad. Right? Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Aside from the fact that I just want to try it and see if it is fun, I have a sneaking suspicion that it might end up being cheaper than store-bought butter. What do you think?

Have you made your butter in a processing machine or did you shake it by hand? Do you use cream or milk? Any other tips before I attempt it?

This is one of our family favourites.
15min preparation. 15min cooking time. Serves approximately 6

Ingredients

750 grams chicken breasts
6 eggs
2 onion
6 cloves garlic
250 gram corn kernels
150 grams bean sprouts
450 mL sweet chilli sauce
75 mL olive oil
3 tablepoons soy sauce
salt to taste
850 grams noodles 2 packets fresh in packet
150 mL milk
Rainbow Salad mix **

Method

1. Make this dish in allotments, otherwise it goes mushy and yuck. Prepare all ingredients in advance.
2. Separate noodles by putting in bowl with hot water… or read packet instructions well.
3. Thinly slice chicken into strips
4. Thinly slice garlic and onion.
5. Make sauce: chilli sauce, soy, salt, chilli powder, garlic and lime/lemon juice.
6. Beat eggs. Add 100ml milk. Combine one tablespoon sauce mix into eggs.
7. Heat wok with oil.
8. Pour in eggs and lightly scramble. Transfer to bowl.
9. Add little olive oil. Use half of the onions and garlic and put into oil. When it is just starting to brown, throw in half the chicken. Brown them whilst breaking chicken into smaller chunks. When this is starting to brown add corn… then bean shoots. Toss for one minute.
10. Throw in half of the noodles and half of the sauce mixture with half the eggs.
11. Toss and serve.

**Optional: add mushrooms or cashews and/or rainbow salad mix.

Meal planning and cooking come easily to some people. I am not one of those people, despite my father being a quality chef. I have previously mentioned how my husband taught me how to cook those packets of 2 min noodles whilst we were on our honeymoon! I really, truly, had no idea about cooking.

Interested in trying out Plan to Eat? You can sign up for a completely free 30-Day Plan to Eat Subscription right now!

But after getting married, I had the desire to learn. I loved experimenting with new recipes but having 4-5 children, a budget and minimal time also meant that I just needed to get meals on the table. Over the years I have tried computer and online meal planning (like MealsMatter.org) as well as pen and paper but it just never seemed to work for me. I couldn’t find a system that was do-able and that could keep up with my constant changing. I went looking for an online program and trialled a few. Ho hum, didn’t like them for various reasons.Then I found Plan To Eat. It looked kind of groovy. (C’mon, it was new and shiny and online!) So I signed up for a trial month but secretly wondered how long I would last with it. In the spirit of honesty it did take me a few weeks before I really got the hang of it. There could be more instructions and user friendly helps on the site although this is something that PTE are working on. And the site tour, blog and forum are more than helpful. I just needed to look around a little longer. The site isn’t static, they do make upgrades and improvements as often as is reasonable.

As you know I don’t like to endorse products that I don’t use or wholeheartedly recommend. So, I’ve waited awhile to tell you about Plan To Eat. But I have used it for quite a few months now… and I’m still using it!

I used to have bookmarks to recipes all over the ‘net. I would forget where I had bookmarked each recipe. But now I can simply import a favourite recipe to my PlanToEat recipe collection! It’s all in one place.

Interested in trying out Plan to Eat? You can sign up for a completely free 30-Day Plan to Eat Subscription right now!

What it is?

It is a virtual recipe book, meal planner, shopping list and more. Plan to Eat was born out of a desire to eat real food — great food — prepared at home, together as a family. The husband and wife team have a real food philosophy.

Features

• Import recipes from over 100 sites automatically or you can manually (and painlessly) add them to your recipe collection.(Taste.com.au, WholeLiving.com PioneerWoman, allrecipes.com and foodnetwork.com just to name a few. See a larger list here.)
• PlanToEat syncs with Ical (for Mac users) or google calendar, if you want it to.
• Share recipes with friends and build your collection of recipes.
• Drag n Drop menu planning
• Save / Load Meal Plans
• Customisable: Change Serving Size, Nutrition Data for each recipe if you wish.
• Generate Grocery Lists for Each Recipe/Menu
• Use it to access your shopping list from your smartphone and check off items as you go
• Cost: $4.95/month or $39/year
• Free Trial: Yes! 30-day free trial

I am slowly adding all my favourite recipes to my Recipe Book. I can access, print and share my recipes from any computer with internet access. I can filter the recipes in my collection by ingredients, tags or how often I’ve planned them! No more paper shuffling! There is a Shopping/Grocery List which worked a treat the first time I’ve used it but since then I haven’t put in the time needed to master it.

I could give you images and/or a video tutorial but I don’t need to. The best way for you to have a really good look is to try it for free. Yes, Plan To Eat has a free 30 day trial. They have a blog, facebook account and a support forum.

If and when you join up to PlanToEat, be sure to add me as a friend so that we begin sharing recipes. You’ll find me there as HomeGrownKids.

Interested in trying out Plan to Eat? You can sign up for a completely free 30-Day Plan to Eat Subscription right now!

Disclosure: If you sign up for Plan to Eat through one of the above links, I will earn a small commission. You certainly don’t have to use these links, but it is one of the ways that you can support this site.

Confession time: I have not followed a menu plan since Abi & Mr. H announced their engagement. In fact, I have barely cooked!  We’ve made do, but it has taken a toll on our bodies. Last week I started easing back into cooking and preparing fixed lunches. I take time with these things. I am, by nature, highly unorganised. I take some time to find my groove and whilst I’m in it everything is great. However it doesn’t take much to knock me out of my groove and the engagement/wedding did just that. So this is the first menu plan in a few weeks. (And it’s an off-pay week as well, so I’m doing okay)

Monday ~ Potato Bake

Tuesday ~ Stir Fry Chicken Noodles

Wednesday ~ Pantry Pasta

Thursday ~ See what grabs me on the day!

Friday ~ Crispy Oven Baked Thighs and Zucchini Bake

Saturday ~ Catch-What-Ya-Can

Sunday ~ Lasagne, Salad and Ginger Orange Dessert

Do you menu plan? I’d love to see your plan. Feel free to link to your own blog post or tell me how you plan for meals.

Having a weekly menu plan is all well and good but some times it just doesn’t work. Well, not in my house anyway! This week is going to be one of those weeks where it doesn’t work. It is our ‘off pay’ week and we’re pretty stretched financially. I am not good at menu planning or cooking on a tight budget but I don’t have any choice in the matter. I can plan for it or eat bread and butter for the week. This type of week is where we Eat-Out-The Pantry or the Fridge. Basically the menu plans goes down the drain and I simply use everything from the fridge and pantry. Ah, the benefits of having a well stocked freezer!

Confession Time

Stocking the freezer is my strong point. I like to buy produce, especially meats, and put them in the freezer for later.

Problem: I do not like going into the freezer and defrosting meat.

Solution: Sadly I had to ask John to help me. He went through the freezer, told me what was there so I devised the menu plan. He even took some of it out for use early on in the week and then placed the meats for mid week closer to the front. We would obviously go hungry if he didn’t help me.

So what does our menu plan this week look like?

Eat-Out-The-Fridge-Until-Payday-Menu-Plan

• Sunday:: Chow Mein (beef mince and cabbage)
• Monday:: Soup and Baked Pasta with Turkey Sausages and Spinach
• Tuesday:: Catch-What-Ya-Can (soup, omelette, toastie sandwiches, etc)
• Wednesday: Italian Pizza Soup and Something with Turkey Sausages. Any suggestions?
• Thursday:: is payday!

I make nutritious soups which are warm and filling and not too expensive so a bit of broccoli and zucchini will be all I need to buy at shops to get me through. I also have a packet of Aussie Soup Mix in the cupboard so can do something with that.

But what I really need is a quick, easy and tasty recipe using Turkey Sausages. Anyone?

Carob Treats

• 3 Weet-Bix or Vita-Brits
• 1 TB carob powder
• 1 TB Coconut oil
• 1 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• Pinch or two of Stevia or natural sweetener
• 1/2 cup sultanas, raisins, prunes or figs.

Place all ingredients except fruit into blender and process.
Stir in the dried fruit and pulse lightly.
Using a teaspoon, measure out amount and roll into balls. The mixture should be firm and not too wet.
Once formed, roll in coconut.
Chill in fridge.
Enjoy!

♪ ♫ ♩ ♬ I am so clever. I am so clever. ♪ ♫ ♩ ♬

Yes, I jumped around the house yesterday afternoon singing this to any and all. Why am I so clever? Because after trying something 5 years ago and failing I recently had another go. And the result was delicious! I felt clever for actually doing something successful.

Almond Milk and Nutty Granola

A few years ago I tried to make Almond Milk and a dehydrated granola from the recipe in Serene Allison’s book, “Rejuvenate Your Life – Recipes for Energy“. I failed miserably. 🙁 In fact, salads and nut sprinkles are pretty much the only things from that book that I do well.

But in my travels around the world (with the help of the Internet) I stumbled across a video of Jennifer Cornbleet, at LearnRawFood. She was making Zucchini Pasta with Marinara Sauce. We tried it ourselves and loved it! Then I searched for ‘raw foods’ at my local library and Jennifer’s DVD was available so I sped er, mosied along over to the library, borrowed it and watched it. She makes it look all so easy and achievable! I was so inspired that I tried the Almond Milk and Granola myself… and […drum roll please…] IT WORKED!!! It is delicious! Rich, nutty and creamy and it keeps for 5 days in the fridge.

Jennifer Cornbleet’s Almond Milk

Yield: 2 1/2 cups, 2 servings

• 2.5 cups water
• 1.5 cups soaked almonds (see note)
• 3 pitted medjool dates ( I didn’t have medjool dates so just used normal ones)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Equipment

• measuring cups
• measuring spoons
• blender
• fine-mesh strainer or mesh bag
• medium bowl
• rubber spatula

Method

Place 1.5 cups of the water and the almonds, dates, and optional vanilla in a blender. Blend on high speed until very smooth. Add the remaining 1 cup of water and blend until smooth.

Place a fine-mesh strainer over a medium bowl and pour the almond mixture through it. Using a rubber spatula, stir and press the pulp that is caught in the strainer to extract as much milk as possible. Alternatively, use a mesh bag to strain the milk.

Discard the pulp left in the strainer. Transfer the milk to a sealed container and store in the refrigerator. Almond Milk will keep for five days. It will separate, so shake well before using.

Note: To soak the almonds, place 1 cup of them in a mason jar (or bowl). Fill with cool water, screw on the lid, and soak for 8 hours or overnight at room temperature. Drain and rinse. 1 cup raw almonds yields 1 1/2 cups soaked.

** I didn’t use vanilla but added a teaspoon of honey instead.

If you try it, let me know how it went. If you have any other tips, please let me know.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlOg7LGrDEE

Making bread is nothing new. I’ve been making home made bread since the early ’90’s. The recipe was given to me by a friend of my mum’s. It is a quick and easy bread recipe which delivers a lovely, soft, fluffy bread.

Soft, White Aussie Bread

• 5 cups flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 TB lecimax or other bread improver
• 1 TB instant yeast
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 TB oil

Combine and knead until desired consistency. Shape into rolls or loaves. Leave to rise for about 20 minutes. Bake for 15-20 minutes (for rolls) or 30 minutes for a loaf in a 200degree oven.

Problem –  My Italian husband doesn’t like soft, white, fluffy bread. He loves going to his mum’s place where she always has strong, crusty, continental loaf.
Solution – No Knead Artisan Bread! It is just how my husband likes his bread… strong with a deep crusty crust.
New problem – The cooked loaf doesn’t last longer than an hour or so in our house.

No Knead Bread

• 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
• ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
• 1¼ teaspoons salt
• Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed. (I don’t bother with this)
• Approximately 375 – 400 ml lukewarm water

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

See original sources

See the recipe in the New York Times here.
Learn how this method works here.
Watch a video of it all here.

I use our pizza stone for baking the loaf. I pre-heat it, which is an important step. I also use a little baking paper as it allows for quick clean up. Another tip that I use is to put a pan of water in the bottom of the oven when pre-heating and baking. Helps to get a lovely crust.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Ah9ES2yTU

December 2010.

I love coffee: latte’s, cappuccino’s, espresso’s, chai latte’s… they’re all for me. And having a daughter who is a competing Latte Artist I have plenty of opportunity to practice taking photo’s.

On a date with my man… and a yummy latte.

Latte: edited

This post was originally on the AussieHomeschool forum (yes, it’s amazing what we discuss!) so I thought I’d post it here.  I don’t know all that much about coffee but I am learning all the time. Feel free to disagree with me and point me to sources of correct information.

Firstly, if you want to read my previous post on the best domestic machine you can do so here.

However, it doesn’t matter how great a machine you get if you use cheap coffee. The richness, the sweetness, the strength is all in The Bean!If you get a cheap bean it will be bitter- no matter who makes it on what machine! So, getting a good bean is essential.

Next, a good grinder is also very important because the grounds will determine how good the extraction is- this determines whether or not the extraction is bitter or sour. I use my daughters $600 commercial grinder which is ridiculous for home use! However, I bought a Breville BarAroma Grinder which is pretty good for home use and would do a good job for many years.

I could talk for hours and hours about this…as it used to be a little passion of mine but over the last few years it has become an obsession. I have learned all about the history off beans, growing, harvesting, roasting and grinding methods of beans…machines, extraction, milk texturing and more! Yet, I still know nothing compared to my daughter…who also has a lot to learn still.

I have had some cruddy beans and some beautiful beans and they are what makes the difference.

A not-so-good barista can make a super cuppa from a great bean but a great barista will only make an average cuppa with a cruddy, stale bean. You generally get what you pay for but not always.

The Adelaide market sells heaps of beans- apparent coffee houses…but if you have a good look at the bean it is not fresh! This is awful. Shouldn’t be allowed. Should be a crime!

Anyway, Arabica beans are often the typical bean used. Robusta is another variety but isn’t as nice, IMO. It is higher in caffeine but also more bitter. However, it’s also a little cheaper so some flakey companies will use it. Some even use it as a *filler* so always check that you’re using 100% Arabica. (It’s personal taste but good until you have refined your espresso palette).

You can get single origin beans or a blend and blends are usually the best. The blends complement each providing depth and richness whereas a single origin can be slightly more bitter and quite acidic. It’s fun experimenting to find the blend you like most. My dd makes her own blends but you’ll probably just want to buy your own blend (I advise this as it can be costly to play around, finding your own perfect blend ) Some blends are designed more for straight espresso shots where others are more designed to be used with milk. Some blends are rich and fruity whereas others are more chocolatey. What I do not recommend is those awful cheap and nasty beans that have been artificially flavoured. You know the ones like you can buy in a pack at Gloria jeans and they are caramel flavoured? Ugh, not good. I would never allow those beans near my machine!

Raw, fresh beans, unroasted

Freshness: the most crucial part of it all. We never buy from the supermarket. It can be anywhere from 3 months (if you’re lucky) to over one year old!

The freshness of the bean is not determined by the time that the fruit/bean was picked! It is actually determined since the time of roasting! A bean can keep well for years (in the right conditions) if left unroasted but the roasting brings out the natural oils which can quickly become rancid, as oils do. Roasting beans produces some gasses. Most gas is released in the first few days and stops after about one week. This is then stale coffee!

Oxygen and moisture are two no-no’s for your beans. Some roasters use water to cool the beans after roasting. No! Not good. Air should be used to cool the beans, not water.

Beans should be stored or packed in those bags that are fitted with a one way valve. This allows for the oils/gasses from the bean to escape (and oxygen is removed before sealing the bag) without letting oxygen in.

Do not keep your beans in the fridge or freezer! Ack! I don’t know where this came from but it’s not true. Some older generation Italian families do this but they really have no idea how to bring the best out of a bean- they murder the bean anyway.

But how do you know if the beans are fresh? Yeah it’s not easy unless you know what you’re looking for…and truth be told I still struggle when buying coffee- which is why my dd is in charge of all that. However, a few guidelines are what I try to stick to:

Raw, unharvested

Minimal Surface Oil- The amount of oil on the surface of freshly roasted beans depends on the degree of the roast. Some will look matte and you won’t see much oil whereas others will appear to have more oil. If they are too shiny and wet/oily looking then then they could, in fact, be too old and stale. Best test is to breathe and smell it. If it smells like as ash tray then chuck it! It should be nice, sweet,rich, thick, toasted type of smell.

Once you get it home and make a shot of espresso (which you need even for cappuccino) then the espresso shot should be thick and foamy. This is a sign of fresh beans.

We also are willing to pay a little more for our coffee to get the best taste possible but in a fair as possible way. therefore we try to always buy Fair Trade Coffee.

Last, always try to use filtered water in your machine. Oh, coffee is best served in a porcelain mug- it really does affect the taste of the bean.

Here in Adelaide there are a few good coffee roasters: like The Coffee Barun (fantastic) and Five Senses (both in Vic and WA). Rio is okay (IMO). Some people love Rio coffee but I prefer the Coffee Barun. He’s an artist! Sometimes you can go into a roastery and start talking to the Master Roaster, and you will learn heaps! Coffee will never be the same again! Even my 11 and 14yo sons know heaps about coffee- the science behind it all- just from living and learning coffee.

All coffee photo’s (latte art) posted on my blog are courtesy of my daughter, unless otherwise stated. If you’d like to visit her blog, simply click on any of the images.

Coffee is an interest that helps to pull our family together. I know it might seem a bit ‘over the top’ to some but it is like cords that bind our family together (along with many other things, of course). There are many cords that help tie our family together and they usually come about because of an interest that we each have. Sure, we don’t all have to be equally passionate or interested as each other but relationship building means listening, sharing, going out of our own comfort zones – it is living and learning together.

What passions or interests help to tie your family together?

I love my coffee. Everyone who knows me knows that. My daughter is a barista and has studied, and continues to study, the art, the history, the science of coffee- from the plant to harvesting, roasting and grinding.

Somewhere along the line I learned about Fair Trade…and fair Trade Coffee. I was shocked. I truly had no idea about the coffee that I consumed and where it had come from and under what conditions. I won’t bore you to a glassy eyed state if you’re not interested…but if you love real coffee (and chocolate) and you want to know more, then I urge you to visit the Fair Trade Campaign and to support Fair Trade products.

Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a “fair price” as well as social and environmental standards in areas related to the production of a wide variety of goods. It focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries, most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate and flowers.

Other links
Fair Trade Association
Fair Trade and the Coffee Campaign
Checkout fair Trade

If you can’t view the video above, you can view it here.
and if you’re a little more interested, view this one as well.

Don’t you love your hubby? I do! Here I was researching various blenders, which would have taken me a month of Sunday’s to narrow it down, when on the way to the airport, to get Miss A, I told John that I could do with his input. I gave him the summary:

Super-duper expensive at approximately $1899.
Super expensive between $700 – $900
Expensive of the cheap range: approximately $200 or
Cheap: $200 and under.

Green Smoothie

• 1 bulb of fennel
• 2 oranges, peeled
• 2 handfuls baby spinach
• dash of honey (or maple syrup)
• Some flaxseed oil
• ice cubes

He listened to my blurb about the Thermomix and said it would be good if we had a business and could recoup some of that money back…which we don’t. I guess he crossed that one off his mental list pretty quickly.

Then came the super expensive ones…thankfully my husband knows me to well. When I get an interest in something I need to dabble in it…but that doesn’t mean it will necessarily become a life long passion or lifestyle so I guess he crossed these off the list too.

I talked to him about the more expensive of the cheap range- and his ears pricked up…he was listening intently. Then he heard that it was in the Sunbeam Cafe Series (same as our coffee machine) and he took a detour and dropped into The Good Guys. Thirty minutes later and guess who has a new blender?

Whoohoo! Yup, that would be me! I’ve already put it to good use. I made a green smoothie and coerced, forced, strongly encouraged everyone to have a glass.

Do you make green or savoury smoothies? Please share your favourite recipes with me. I know there are many websites that have recipes, and I’ve visited most of them! but I’d love to hear readers favourites.

My husband has fond memories of a special breakfast meal that his mother would prepare for him. I say fondness because that’s what I see and hear on his face as he recalls the memory. But the look on his face is strange, as though hiding mixed feelings.  You know that look where one’s nose curls up in disgust yet the mouth is smiling? That look. I can’t quite figure out what feelings are behind the look and he can’t really verbalise it accurately. I do know that he is now extremely fussy when it comes to eating eggs- they now have to be cooked very well. He wonders if this extreme fussiness is because of zabaglione. (That’s my disclaimer)

Anyway, his ma would make zabaglione for breakfast sometimes. Not all the time, it was a special treat. Zabaglione is  a simple but deliciously rich, Italian dessert made of egg yolks, sugar, and Marsala wine. Espresso, champagne, sherry or wine can be used. (My mother-in-law made it with orange juice in place of the marsala) It is usually served warm, though it can be served cold, or as a sauce, or even frozen. Coupled with fruit it is truly a deliciously, rich dessert. For breakfast, it can be served with biscotti and a cappuccino. when served with biscotti and coffee, you may find you want to add a little more sugar.

However, Italian cooking is so diverse that no two recipes look the same. Every region in Italy has its own style of cooking but even further, each village has their own way of doing things as well. So every town has its own recipe for bread or sauce and zabaglione. It doesn’t mean that the recipe is wrong…it’s just a different recipe, most likely from a different region than another recipe. Italians can tell what region a person is from often by their way of cooking. My husband’s family are from a southern region of Italy: Calabria.

Zabaglione
4 servings

• 4 large egg yolks
• 4 tbsp caster sugar (white will do)
• 4 tbsp Marsala, Espresso, juice or other
• Drop or two of vanilla essence

1) Put the egg yolks and sugar in a large heatproof bowl and whisk together until light and fluffy and approximately doubles in size.. We use an electric egg beater but be very careful to not over-beat.
When the mixture starts to thicken, place the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. A double-boiler can be used if you have one. Alternatively, you can use a metal or other heatproof bowl that can be suspended over simmering water. Just be sure to not let the water touch the bottom of the bowl.

2) Add vanilla, marsala, juice or espresso and whisk ( we cheat and use an electric egg beater) continuously until the mixture becomes thick, hot and foamy. The eggs need to be cooked gently so the mixture stays smooth.

3) Spoon the zabaglione into serving dishes and serve with accompaniments. (Either biscotti, cream, fresh or stewed fruit, etc)

Variations for dessert

Zabaglione with Cream
Take a tub of thickened cream and whip it until it is stiff. Once the zabaglione is cooked, very gently add most of the whipped cream to the slightly cooled zabaglione and gently fold together. Use the remaining cream to decorate after spooning the zabaglione into separate small dishes or cups.

Chocolate Zabaglione
Gently melt some chopped semi-sweet, good quality chocolate. Once zabaglione is cooked, gently fold in the melted chocolate. Decorate with shaved chocolate and fresh berries make a lovely addition to this dish.

Zabaglione with Ice Cream
Pour warm zabaglione over a good quality ice cream or gelati for a rich and beautiful dessert.

Baked or Chilled Zabaglione
Spoon the thick custard like zabaglione into individual bowls/dishes and sprinkle with chocolate or sugar. Either bake in the oven or chill in the fridge.

A few links although not too many as there are too many variations

Zabaglione at Anna Maria‘s

Simply Recipes

Cold Zabaglione by Nigella

Lydia’s Kitchen recipe

Video on youtube– cooking course 108 (this guy is verbose and one swear word)

Video on videojug

Do you have a favourite recipe for Zabaglione?

Addendum

Okay so I got it wrong. John’s ma used to make his different to what I posted last night.

She didn’t cook it! She would whip up the egg yolks with the sugar and a little coffee and just keep whipping it in the electric mixer for about 7 min, till it went smooth and creamy. Ewwwwww, is it any wonder he can only eat eggs that are over cooked? No cooking, just whipping! When I suggested that this could be the reason for his aversion to properly cooked eggs he responded with,

“Nah, the Zabaglione didn’t turn me off. That was yummy! But she used to make me suck raw eggs as a nutritional food”. Ewww gross!

Just thought I’d better come back and set the record straight.

Triple rosetta, courtesy of AbiGrace

Oh no! The next three weeks are going to be tough…about the only thing to make it a little easier for me to bear is the heatwave we are in the midst of. I know I will get through it of course, but…it will be tough. I don’t have too many vices anymore, except the occasional chocolate (and it is occasional nowadays as I want to share it more with my children) and my love of dry, hard Parmesan cheese. But my greatest vice of all is cappuccino.

I mean how could it not be? Not only do did we have a great machine that extracted a sweet shot but the steamer creates the most velvety, creamy, sweet milk, which forms the perfect cappuccino. Well, I suppose I should be honest and say that it only works that way when my own Personal Barista makes it for me…my own shot is not quite so sweet and I burn the burn, separating the sweetness of it resulting in a slightly bitter and burned taste.

But alas! my beautiful machine is not well. She needs a major over haul and some internal surgery. I could be without her for up to three weeks! 3 weeks!!! What am I to do? I shall have to find some way to cope, I suppose. The machines run best when using filtered water only but we don’t have a water filter. Our earthenware water filter was cracked in our last move and we haven’t gotten around to buying another one. We think that is what has caused the problem.

Lisa asked me awhile ago to recommend a good espresso machine that wouldn’t break the budget. Well, I had asked Miss A (the Barista) to write a post for me and she was happy to but tell me, how does one pin a 17 yo young lady, who is driving all over the place, down to write a blog post? It obviously just didn’t happen. So here I am instead…but I am armed with her recommendation.

Our machine is a Sunbeam EM6910 (pictured above).

Why do we like it and what makes it better than some of the other machines on the market?

Paul Bassett was an Australian Barista Champion and he helped develop this machine. However, that alone doesn’t make it any good. With espresso machines you largely get what you pay for- in what it delivers and life expectancy of the machine. The reason this machine is better than others in a similar price range is that it has a twin pump and thermoblock system.  It also has an espresso gauge so you can see/test the quality of your extraction. (Users like me find this helpful but the more professional users, like Miss A, would not use an electrical gadget to measure the quality of their coffee) And much more. Suffice to say that the quality is that of commercial use but for the domestic home.

Appreciating a fine coffee, we didn’t want an automatic machine because…

1) There’s no fun in it and…

2) It is cookie-cutter mentality coffee- not individualised. There are some automatic machines available (e.g. the Nespresso) whereby you have to purchase the manufacturer’s brand of coffee, pre ground. Eww, pre ground coffee beans are gross!

This machine allows us to extract a shot of coffee and texture the milk at the same time, resulting in a fresher cappuccino. We’re able to regulate the temperature of the water, which is very handy in getting a good cup. The machine is strong and robust and quite easy to clean. However, it does need regular cleaning – it’s not a kettle. It works with ground coffee and milk so of course it needs thorough cleaning. Not everyone realises the amount of work needed to care for an espresso/cappuccino machine and some people are disappointed by this.

There are other very good machines on the market for home use, but there is no way that we could afford the $3000 to buy one. In our opinion, this is The Best machine at an affordable price. However, it will only produce as good a coffee as your bean and your milk texturing technique. If you don’t want to take time to learn of these things it might be best to stick to store-bought or buy an expensive automated machine. When you purchase this machine, you are also able to do the free Paul Bassett Coffee Appreciation Course, which not only teaches you a little about coffee but more importantly, how to care for your machine.

So there. That’s my thoughts on the Sunbeam…no doubt AbiGracewould do a much more thorough job of it but she didn’t…and I did. So there. 🙂

Not only am I a follower of Christ but coffee is also one of my passions so this brief video is painfully funny but also relevant. Okay this might upset some readers so I guess it’s pretty controversial but I think for those who have been Christians for awhile or been raised as Christians there are some important lessons we can learn here. Actually there are many valid points of view that we can see from this quick video. If it offends you after watching it, ponder it for a day or so and then come back and watch it again…

I watched it with mixed emotions. I’ve been a follower of Christ for over 20 years so whenever the Church is poked I feel a little hurt but, as a follower who despises Christian-ese and the ‘playing-at-christianity‘ that many churches and Christians partake in, there’s a bit of truth in this message. So I watched it with a view to the Lord showing me His heart in it all.

You can find the original clip and more info at the Beyond Relevance site, which I’m not necessarily endorsing.
Plus I’ve had a few Starbucks coffee’s here in Australia and every cup has been bitter, which is a sure sign that the espresso shot was not extracted properly and I’ve needed 2 sugars, which is an indication that the milk has been scalded (burned) which is a big bad.

watch?v=D7_dZTrjw9I

Okay Jacqui,

Here’s my easy peasy recipe for Pumkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie

1 kg pumpkin, peeled,
1 cup rice (brown gives a crunch and nutty flavour but white is fine too)
1 egg
½ cup milk
1 ¼ cup cheese
salt & pepper
1 cup breadcrumbs.

Method

• Boil pumpkin and mash, adding a dob of butter.

• Boil rice. Add rice, egg, 1 cup cheese, milk and seasonings to pumpkin. Smooth into dish.
• Top with remaining cheese and breadcrumbs.
• Bake 25-30 min in 180C degree oven (350F).
• Serve with crusty bread and a tossed green salad.

Serves approximately 4.

I vary this depending upon what is in the fridge. If we have left over Fried Rice, I add that or corn, mushroom, etc
I also play around with herbs/spices like nutmeg, caraway seeds and lots more pepper.
Sometimes, I add parmesan cheese to the mix and maybe even crushed cornflakes instead of breadcrumbs.

If we have a vegetable soup, like a broccoli or cauliflower soup, made with home made stock, this will do us for a main meal…along with fruit or a piece of bread n jam afterwards.  😉

After having several yummy and nutritious meals lately, we’re going fairly light tonight and eating some of the left-overs. However, I’ll make a Spinach and Potato Soup with a fresh tossed salad. This soup is so easy and delicious. I simply sauté an onion and some garlic in a mixture of olive oil and coconut oil. I add half a potato per person along with a packet of frozen spinach. I sometimes prefer frozen veggies, if I can’t or won’t buy organic. I think they have as much, if not more, nutrients in them than the ‘fresh vegetables‘ from the grocer that may have travelled many miles before getting to my table.

If I don’t have any home made stock, I add about 1 and a half cups of water per person, along with a stock cube, pepper and parsley. I’ll simmer this for about 30 min. Then I use my hand held wand (blender) to puree it. It can be served with croutons (‘Miss A’ makes the best ones) but if we’re watching our carb intake I tend to omit them but I’ll serve a tsp of good quality parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. While it isn’t fashionable any more to have salt on the table, we do. I use an organic, unprocessed Celtic Sea Salt, which we may crush in the mortar along with some fresh herbs. This allows us to make up our seasonings on the spot. The children love doing this as they can ‘make their own’. 😎

I’ve been looking at trying to eat more ‘seasonally‘. To do this, I have to look at prices of fresh produce, not just at what is available on the shelves. These days, most veg is easily available but it doesn’t mean it’s fresh. 😡

Persimmons are high in glucose and contain good amounts of protein but none of us like them! My MIL gave me a large bag of them from her tree but we won’t eat them as raw fruit. Maybe I’ll try the pudding from this site:
Here’s a free download which will inform you about persimmons if, like me, you don’t know much about them.

Cabbage isn’t our favourite veggie but it can really stretch out a meal. The meal I use cabbage for mostly is our version of a Chow Mein. I’ll post the recipe when we have it next. I use Kangaroo meat, rice and cabbage as the basis for it.

Sweet potato (kumera or yams) is not only yummy but supplies our bodies with Vit. E and folate. Just last night, I julienned a sweet potato and added it to the baking dish where I was roasting cubed potatoes. We all love sweet potato!

Mushrooms are also in season but at $9 per kg I can’t afford too many. But pumpkins were cheap at the markets so I bought a few of those. Pumpkins are so versatile, aren’t they? We like Pumpkin Soup and Pumpkin Pie with Brown Rice.

Do you have any absolutely delightful recipes featuring these foods? Would you like to share the recipe, either by writing here or leaving a link to your own blog post? I’d love to hear your favourite winter recipes, or those recipes using foods in season.

I’ve noticed that our eating habits change with every house we are in. I think it mainly has to do with the kitchen. Even though this house is smaller, the kitchen is bigger! I l o v e the kitchen!!!!!! Plenty of bench space and cupboard space makes storing goods easier but the best thing is that the stove is fuelled by gas! I love cooking with gas instead of electricity.

About 1.5 km down the road is the local Village Plaza where I have Woolworths and Foodland (Foodland is a South Australian Independent store) but they also have a few butchers, a continental deli , a fresh-food green grocer and a bakery. What more could I ask for? For the first time in years, I am able to actually buy the things that I usually cook with.

Once a fortnight, we’ve been going into the city to the Central markets. Many years ago, the markets overwhelmed me but now I am zipping around them with ease. I don’t know if it is because I am older and a bit more relaxed or that after traipsing around the nation, learning about new, foreign towns every year, that I am thoroughly enjoying the familiarity of Adelaide. maybe my perception of what was hard has now changed, after our recent life experiences.

Anyway, I have been thoroughly enjoying all the cooking and preparing of meals once again. My passion for healthy food has been rekindled and so I’ve been doing some reading of Nourishing Traditions again and visiting a few blogs- only a few though…I have hardly been online at all and I’m not overly keen to start spending hours at it again. However, I did want to mention a few things that I’ve been reading and doing.

Michigan Momto3 writes some very inspiring and informative posts on her blog, Musings of Home and Hearth. I know this lady and she has such knowledge for nourishing foods…and such a passion to share! Do drop by her blog and try some of her recipes and read her shared knowledge of books she is currently reading.

Reading her blog, I was inspired to make my own stock again. I toddled off to the shops and bought some chicken carcasses, came home and simmered them away on the stove. The whole family agreed that tonight’s Minestrone Soup was the absolute *best* I’ve ever made. I credit the stock. Something that I learned from Nourishing Traditions is to add a little vinegar to the stockpot as this helps draw the nutrients out of the bones and carcass.

With rising costs of meat, and the concern I have with typical meat from the butcher we tend not to eat beef or lamb anymore. Instead, we have always used ground kangaroo meat. But I have found the best organic kangaroo store at the Central markets. not only can I get ground meat, but beautiful roo sausages and diced steak. The other night, I did Kangaroo Pepper Steak with mashed potato and pumpkin. It was lovely! Tonight, I used the diced steak to make Kangaroo Stroganoff. Again, the meat was beautifully tender and juice, which isn’t always easy with game meat. Not only is the kangaroo cheaper but it hasn’t been tainted with as many chemicals and other yuckies. So, if you see me post a few recipes, you’ll know why- that’s where my head is at the moment.

Another thing that may be worth sharing is what I have been using to cleanse my face. Yeah, I know, who really cares right? But this is quite interesting. I had previously used Cetaphil with simple moisturiser but since coming down south, away from the lovely humidity of Brisbane, I have really felt my skin, particularly my face, become very dry. I would use the moisturiser but my face would just soak it all up. I don’t like to use a heavy moisturiser as I can tend to have an oily T zone. I had read a little about the Oil Cleansing Method but didn’t like the idea at first…after all my skin can tend to be oily. But I also know that oily skin will become oilier if not moisturised or conditioned. So I took to researching it a bit more. Then I thought I’d have a play and experiment with it. well after using it for a few weeks, I suggested that ‘Miss A’ use it too. She has now been using it for 2 weeks and she loves it too!

My skin has been very clear and feels so smooth. It isn’t dry any more but it certainly isn’t oily. After I get out of the shower I simply splash a little cool water on my face to close the pores and then I use Akin’s Rosehip oil around my eyes and the Simple moisturiser on my face and neck. Sometimes, I use the same oil mixture on my neck and décolletage. Oh, it’s also fantastic for removing make-up! Absolutely wonderful. Other times, especially at night I might use Virgin Coconut Oil. (I also use Coconut Oil on my hair at night- about once a week. It’s magic!)

I poured the oils into a jar and followed the instructions on this site: The Oil Cleansing Method.

I used the following oils for my skin:

• 30ml Castor Oil
• 30ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 30ml Grapeseed Oil
• 5-10ml Tea Tree Oil
• a few drops of Sweet Almond oil

Here are a few more links if you’re interested:

http://www.highonhealth.org/why-you-need-to-start-using-the-oil-cleansing-method-ocm/

http://www.thebeautybottle.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6&Itemid=2

As with anything though, you should do your own research first and then do some test patches before applying to your face.

That’s about it for now…till next time.

This is the dehydrator that my husband made for me. It cost approximately $60 and this was only because he used brand new racks and had to buy a light switch and light batons.

I use the dehyrator to make all sorts of things including yoghurt and proving bread.

FAITH ~ Forsaking All, I Take Him ~

We had an abundance of fresh zucchini at our place and I needed to find a way to use them before it was too late. So, I ran them through the food processor and was left with about 3 kgs of grated zucchini.

I made a Zucchini Slice with salad and it was delicious. I doubled the recipe and it filled the six of us plus there were three generous serves left over for the following day’s lunch

Zucchini Slice
375grams grated Zucchini
1 lg. onion,finely chopped
3 rashers bacon,chopped (I didn’t use this as I didn’t have it)
1 cup S.R. flour
1 cup grated cheese (Oops, I didn’t have this either- I used Serene’s Parmesan Sprinkles on top instead)
5 beaten eggs
1/4 to 1/2 cup oil
pepper and salt
(optional: grated carrot, chopped capsicum, finely sliced celery.)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Place in shallow greased baking dish and spread mix evenly. Bake at 190 – 200 Degrees Celcius for 30 to 40 mins or til browned. If desired, parmesan cheese can be sprinkled on top before baking. Serve with lightly cooked green vegetables or with salad. Enjoyable hot or cold.

While I still had more zucchini left over, I made Zucchini Bread, which we all enjoyed for breakfast this morning:

Zucchini Bread
? 3 cups shredded zucchini (about 3 medium)
? 1 2/3 cups sugar
? 2/3 cup vegetable oil
? 2 teaspoons vanilla
? 4 eggs
? 3 cups all-purpose flour
? 2 teaspoons baking soda
? 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
? 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans that are 9x5x3 inches. Mix zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pans. Bake 50 – 60 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves and remove from pans.